The present invention relates generally to the field of interface devices such as for interfacing with machines or in a stand-alone manner. More particularly, the invention relates to a technique for extracting data stored on an interface device and, where desired, changing or reconfiguring the data so as to change visual views, functionalities and so forth of software device elements stored on the device.
A wide range of interface devices are known and are presently in use in many different fields. In industrial automation, for example, human machine interfaces or “HMIs” are commonly employed for monitoring or controlling various processes. The HMIs may read from or write to specific registers such that they can reflect the operating state of various machines, sensors, processes, and so forth. The interfaces can also write to registers and memories such that they can, to some extent, control the functions of the process. In monitoring functions alone, little or no actual control is executed. In many other settings similar devices are employed, such as in automobiles, aircraft, commercial settings, and a host of other applications. In many applications, the interface may not communicate with a remote device or process, but may be operated in a stand-alone manner.
With the advent of object-oriented programming, strides have been made in improving interface devices and similar hardware. Such strides include programming of individual software objects or device elements which can interact to carryout complex functions. However, further improvement of the systems is needed. In particular, there is needed an improved technique for interacting with an interface that includes device elements. Most prior art approaches relied upon executing the device elements by transmitting the objects themselves for execution. However, such techniques lead to the need to understand and anticipate structures of the underlying device elements and their interactions. There is a need in the art for an improved technique that will permit a more abstracted configuration of device elements in interfaces and that will be applicable to a range of device elements and structures independently.